


In The Heights (Reprise)

by haloburns



Series: A Day In The Life [2]
Category: In the Heights - Miranda
Genre: Other, new generation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-03
Updated: 2016-04-03
Packaged: 2018-05-30 18:54:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6436339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haloburns/pseuds/haloburns
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Early start this morning. Enjoy the chaos! Buenos días, mis panas!</p>
            </blockquote>





	In The Heights (Reprise)

**Author's Note:**

> Character list:  
> Carmen Rosario (Prev Nina) - Nina and Benny's daughter  
> Sebastián (Prev Vanessa) - No one from ITH's child  
> Sofia (Prev Usnavi) - A cousin of Usnavi's who just moved to America  
> Lola (Prev Sonny) - Sonny's adopted daughter  
> Brisa (Prev Benny) - No one from ITH's child  
> Petra (Prev G Pete) - Graffitti Pete's daughter
> 
> So to keep some of the fourth wall elements, I decided that Sofia has a video blog that she records her life and talks about gentrification and serious shit, to give the Latin@ people a voice.

"Lights up on Washington Heights, up at the break of day. I wake up and I got this little punk I gotta chase away," Sofia muttered to her camera.

"Petra, will you please stop defacing my grocery store?" Petra flashed a grin and bolted, spray cans clattering in her bag. Next to the faded initials of "GP" sat a new, more intricate version. Sofia rolled her eyes.

"Pop the grate at the crack of dawn, sing while I wipe down the awning. Hey y'all, good morning." Sofia turns away from the camera she's propped up to say hi to the few people on the streets.

"Ice cold piragua! Parcha, china, cherry, strawberry, and just for today, I got mamey!" 

"Yo, piragüero, como estas?"

"Como siempre, Señora Sofia!" She laughed and they went their separate ways.

"I am Sofia, and you've probably never heard my name. Reports of my family's fame are greatly exaggerated, exacerbated by the fact that our syntax is highly complicated 'cause we emigrated from the single greatest little place in the Caribbean: Dominican Republic! I love it, Jesus, I'm jealous of it. And beyond that, ever since my folks passed on, I haven't gone back. Goddamn... I gotta get on that." Sofia looks at the video camera and shakes her head before going back to opening the store.

"Ugh! The milk has gone bad. Hold up just a second, why is everything in this fridge warm and tepid? I better step it up and fight the heat, 'cause I'm not making a profit if they coffee isn't light and sweet!"

"Yo!"

"Abuelo, do we have any milk at home?"

"Eh? Que pasó?" His face scrunched in confusion at my question; we always had milk at the bodega.

"My fridge is broke. I got café but no con leche."

"Try Abuela Claudia's old recipe: one can of condensed milk."

"Nice..." She turns around, searching for condensed milk in the bodega.

"Ay! Paciencia y fe," he smiles, before going back to what he was doing. Sofia looks at the camera, smiling.

"That was Abuelo, he's not really my "Abuelo", but he practically raised me, this corner was his escuela! Now you're probably thinkin', I'm up shit's creek! I never been north of Ninety-Sixth Street! Well, you must take the A Train. Even farther than Harlem, to northern Manhattan and maintan. Get off at 181st and take the escalator. I hope you're writing this down, I'm gonna test ya later." She winks but then her face falls. "I'm getting tested, times are tough on this bodega. Two months ago, somebody bought Ortega's (again). Our neighbors started packin' up and pickin' up and ever since the rent's went up, it's gotten mad expensive but we live with just enough, in the Heights."

Back to setting up, people started flipping lights and starting their days. There are fights, and stress over endless debts and bills to pay.

"I know they can't survive without café, that's why I serve café." Tonight seems like a million years away, in this hood.

Across the road, Sofia spots Nina opening the cab company. She turns to video her going through her morning routine.

"Next up to bat, the Rosarios. They run the cab company (again). They struggle in the barrio. See, their daughter Carmen's off at college. Tuition is mad steep, so they can't sleep. Everything they get is mad cheap!"

"Good morning, Sofia!"

"Pan caliente, café con leche!" Benny smiled, taking his breakfast from her.

"Put twenty dollars on today's lottery--"

"One ticket, that's it!" Nina said, coming to stand by his side.

"Hey, a man's gotta dream!" He mimicked driving a car, making Nina laugh. Some inside joke, Sofia guessed.

"Don't mind him, he's all excited 'cuz Carmen flew in at 3 AM last night!"

"Don't look at me, this one's been cooking all week."

"Sofia, come over for dinner--" Nina started

"There's plenty to eat!" Benny and Nina finished together, waving as they headed off to the cab company.

Sofia grabs coffee for Daniela and Carla when the two walk into the bodega, the two of them already gossiping. 

"So then Florencia walks in the room--" Daniela leans in conspiratorially.

"Uh-huh..." Carla responded.

"She smells sex and cheap perfume!"

"Uh-oh..."

"It smells like one of those trees that you hang from the rear view!" she laughs.

"Ah, no!" Carla says, looking scandalized.

"It's true! She screams "Who's in there with you, Fabian!" She grabs a bat and kicks in the door! He's in bed with Jesus from the liquor store!"

"No me diga!" Carla and Sofia said at the same time.

"Daniela and Carla from the salon," Sofia whispers. "They've been here forever."

"Thanks Sofia!" They say, taking their coffees and turning into their salon, where Vanessa sat in a chair reading a magazine. Sofia made her way back to the bodega when she saw Lola rushing in.

"Lola, you're late," she sighed.

"Chillax, you know you love me," she grinned, not perturbed in the slightest. Fia rolled her eyes, going back to her camera.

"Me and my cousin runnin' just another dime-a-dozen Mom-and-pop stop-and-shop. And oh my god, it's gotten too darn hot, like my man Usnavi said. People come through for a few cold waters and a lottery ticket, just a part of the routine. Everybody's gotta job, everybody's gotta dream." They gossip, as she sips her coffee and smirks.

"The first stop as people hop to work. Bust it-- I'm like--One dollar, two dollars, one fifty, one sixty-nine," she said, handing out daily items on the quick.

"I got it. You want a box of condoms? What kind? That's two-quarters, two-quarter waters. _The New York Times_. You need a bag for that? The tax is added." A quick glance at the camera to explain. "Once you get some practice at it, you do rapid mathematics automatically. Sellin' maxi pads and fuzzy dice for taxicabs and practically everybody's stressed, yes, but they press through the mess, bounce checks and wonder what's next, in the heights!"

And so the people buy their coffee and go, setting their sights on only what they need to know. In the heights, money is tight, but even so when the lights go down, they blast their radio. Sofia relates all of this to the camera, smirking faintly. "Especially Usnavi."

"You ain't got no skills!" startled Fia from her position, a smile quickly filling her face.

"Brisa!"

"Yo, lemme get a--" Brisa started, but Fia already knew.

"Milky Way."

"Yeah, lemme also get a--" Grinning, Brisa moved onto the next part of her morning routine.

" _Daily News_ \--"

"And a--" 

" _Post_ \--"

"And the most important, my--"

"Boss's second coffee, one cream--" 

"Five sugars!" They laughed, finishing together.

"I'm the number one earner!" Lola laughed, calling "What?!" from the back.

"The fastest learner!" This time, Fia joined Lola in questioning Brisa.

"My boss can't keep me on the damn back burner!"

"Yes, he can," Fia said, smirking.

"I'm makin' moves, I'm makin' deals, but guess what?"

"What?" Fia said, exasperated.

"You still ain't got no skills!" Lola joined Brisa in teasing Fia.

"Hardee-har."

"Yo, Sebastián show up yet?" 

"Shut up!" Fia blushed and turned away.

"Hey little homie, don't get so upset!" Brisa frowned, moving closer.

"Man..."

"Tell Sebastián how you feel, buy the guy a meal on the real or you ain't got no skills," Brisa said, smiling now at Fia's embarrassment. At that moment, Sebastián walked in, muttering "no" under his breath.

"No, no, no! Mrs. Johnson, I've got the security deposit! It's locked in a box in the bottom of my closet. It's not reflected in my bank statement, but I've been savin' to make a down payment and pay rent. No, no, I won't let you down!"

"Here your chance, ask him out, right now!" Brisa whispered.

"I'll see you later, we can look at that lease!" His tone was much happier now and he smiled.

"Do somethin', make your move, don't freeze--" She hissed at Sofia, pushing her forward.

"Hey!" Sofia called, smiling.

"You owe me a bottle of cold champagne," he smirked, walking over to her.

"Are you moving?"

"Just a little credit check and I'm on that downtown train!" He sang, his grin infectious.

"Well, your coffee's on the house." Sofia handed it to him, smiling faintly.

"Sofia, ask him out!" Brisa hissed from behind her still.

"No way!" Lola laughed.

"I'll see you later, so..." Sebastián waved goodbye, sipping his coffee.

"Ooh, smooth operator! Aw damn! There he goes! Yo, bro, take five, take a walk outside! You look exhausted, lost. Don't let life slide! The whole hood is struggling, times are tight and you're stuck to this corner like a streetlight!"

Brisa shoved her out the door of the bodega and Sofia looked at the camera, mumbling, "Yeah, I'm a streetlight, choking on the heat. The world spins around while I'm frozen to my seat. The people that I know all keep on rolling down the street. But every day is different so I'm switchin' up the beat. 'Cause my parents came with nothing. They got a little more, and sure, we're poor, but yo, at least we got the store! It's all about the legacy they left with me, it's destiny and one day I'll be on a beach with Lola writing checks to me!"

Done talking, she turned her camera to show that in the Heights, they hang their flags up on display. "We came to work and to live, and we got a lot in common. It reminds me that I came from miles away. D.R, P.R., we are not stoppin'!"

Every day, she remembers Abuelo's "paciencia y fe."

"Until the day we go from poverty to stock options. And today's all we got, so we cannot stop; this is our block!" The flags on display reminded Sofia that her family came from miles away....

"It gets more expensive every day," a passerby bitches, shaking their head angrily.

"Tonight is so far away," whined a child.

"As for mañana, mi pana, you just gotta keep watchin'! You'll see the late nights, you'll taste beans and rice, the syrups and shaved ice. I ain't gonna say it twice! So turn up the stage lights. We're taking a flight to a couple of days of what it's like in Washington Heights!" With a little wave, Sofia signed off and stood, going to start her day at the bodega.

**Author's Note:**

> So I hope this is good?? Comment here or hmu on tumblr @young-scrappy-and-gay!


End file.
